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The rangers of Rakore redeveloped an old weapon during Rakore's War of the Four Winds: the foot crossbow. It was a man-portable crossbow with a bow as tall as a man, reinforced, and capable of hurling quarrels as thick as those for a crossbow and as long as those for a longbow at ranges of nearly 500 yards. The weapon did not require special training, but experts with it could take down a roc-hawke or an ogremai at long distances.
The foot crossbow could also be broken down into pack-sized components for long marches or crawling through the brush, and then reassembled relatively quickly and stealthily when needed. The foot crossbow took about a minute to reassemble or disassemble by most users, although speed assemblies with times of half a minute have been reported. The reload time of the foot crossbow made it superior to the heavy crossbow, delivering near equal force. The weapon was also of a similar weight to the heavy crossbow, making it quite sought-after. The main drawback to the weapon was it's size, which made it prohibitive in melee combat; many foot crossbows had to be discarded during the heat of battle. The foot crossbow's primary components could be manufactured by a bowyer, but the trigger mechanism required intricate work, usually by a blacksmith. The device got it's name because a user had to lay on his back, place his feet in the stirrup, and pull with all their might on the bowstring -- usually with a special tool called a grapple -- to cock the weapon. d20 System: Operating a foot crossbow requires two hands, and a user can shoot (but not load) a heavy crossbow with one hand at a -6 penalty on attack rolls; this penalty is cumulative with the penalty for one-handed fighting. Loading a foot crossbow is a full-round action that provokes an attack of opportunity, as well as leaving the user in the 'prone' position during loading.
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